The Boston Celtics traveled throughout the border to the Scotiabank Area Saturday night time to tackle the third-placed Toronto Raptors. The lead see-sawed all through the primary three quarters, however Boston rolled the Raptors within the fourth to take a giant win, 112-96. Pritchard led the way in which on the highway with 33 factors, 10 assists and eight boards as Boston transfer to 17 wins on the season.
Jaylen Brown was not accessible for the visiting Celtics as a result of sickness, while RJ Barrett and Jakob Poeltl have been additionally dominated out for the house facet. Sam Hauser obtained the beginning nod for Boston alongside White, Pritchard, Queta, and Walsh.
Neemias Queta scored the primary factors of the sport with a mushy floater in the important thing off a dive and dish from Pritchard. Pritchard nailed a deep straight-on triple along with his first shot of the night time. Payton had the ball in his palms to create for the crew on the primary three performs of the night time with JB out.
Former Pelican Brandon Ingram drilled a troublesome nook three, and Mamukelashvili hit his first three-pointer of the sport to take an early 11-5 lead. Pritchard discovered Queta rolling to the important thing to transform on a layup because the Portuguese massive man had 5 early factors.
Pritchard danced with the ball exterior the three-point line earlier than taking Mamukelashvili inside and hitting a step-back foul-line pull-up jumper over the Raptor massive man. Boston wasn’t offering a lot resistance on the different finish, because the Raps had seven makes early and a 3-point lead.
Mazzulla made wholesale modifications to the lineup on the 5-minute mark as Garza, Simons, Gonzalez, and Minott joined Payton Pritchard to shut out the primary quarter. Garza transformed 2 free throws for Boston in his first important game-time motion for the reason that December fifth conflict in opposition to the Wizards. Garza adopted up, scoring 4 sturdy factors within the paint for Boston because the bench crew took a 5-point lead.
The vitality shifted in Boston’s favor; the highway C’s reeled off 16 straight factors to finish the quarter up by 12 factors, 32-20. Garza and Gonzalez are offering the prompt the bench, with Garza battling on the inside and the Spanish rookie choosing up Raptors in full-court stress.
Luka Garza recorded 5 offensive boards within the first quarter alone as Joe Mazzulla rolled with the previous T-Wolf to start out the second quarter. The beginning of the second quarter was much less fluid for each groups, and Boston logged its sixth turnover of the night time to Toronto’s 4. The Raptors have been capturing simply 32 p.c from the sphere, highlighted by a poor 5-19 from three with 8 minutes left within the quarter.
Gonzalez picked up three fouls halfway by way of the second and had to sit down as Toronto began to chip away on the Boston benefit to simply 8 factors, 41-33, with 5 minutes to go within the half. Sam Hauser’s first three-pointer got here on the 2-minute mark, as Boston held a shaky 6-point lead.
Queta was whistled for a Flagrant Foul 1 on Scottie Barnes after the Raptor wing bought a pump faux and obtained clocked for his efforts below the basket. Barnes got here alive after the foul and dunked the ball for his fifth level of the sport.
Immanuel Quickley drained a triple on the high of the important thing as the house crew accomplished the comeback and eventually took again the lead. Boston was outscored 31-17 within the second quarter, its lowest complete of the season. With Jaylen Brown out of the conflict, the Celtics went scoreless for the ultimate 2 and a half minutes of the half.
Pritchard started working to start out the third, draining a three-point pull-up and moving into the lane; the guard had 13 factors and counting to start out the third quarter. Mamukelashvili and Ingram hit back-to-back triples to reply.
A between-the-legs, step-back nook three-pointer for Pritchard noticed the sixth lead change of the night time. Anfernee Simons hit a troublesome shot over rookie Murray-Boyles, his eleventh level.
Baylor Scheierman noticed his first courtroom time of the sport late within the third quarter as Mazzulla was looking for a spark to raise the C’s within the SEGABABA. Grady Dick transformed on an up-and-under layup as Toronto as soon as once more retook the lead. Boston was led by Pritchard, who had 19 factors within the quarter. Payton was stuffing the stat sheet for Boston within the third; he logged his ninth help, sixth rebound, and a team-high 27 factors as Boston battled again to guide 83-80.
Boston had 42 factors within the paint to start out the 4th quarter; Toronto had simply 26 factors. The Celtics additionally have been out rebounding the house crew, 48-40, initially of the ultimate stanza. Anfernee Simons hit 5 straight factors to start out the fourth quarter for the C’s.
Garza scored within the paint on a comply with tip-in after a Simons’ drive try; Luka was most likely having his finest recreation of the season with 1 / 4 to go. Derrick White’s third triple of the night time over an outstretched Brandon Ingram gave the C’s a ten-point lead with 9 minutes to go within the recreation.
Garza, Scheierman, Gonzalez, White, and Simons have been tremendous stable for Boston as Pritch obtained some much-needed relaxation for Boston. Derrick White began to have his means with Toronto and obtained the ring and hurt over Ja’Kobe Walter, his 14th level of the sport.
Luka Garza recorded a staggering ninth offensive rebound of the sport; his hustle was infectious for Boston on the highway back-to-back. Garza and Queta each noticed taking part in time as Mazzulla opted for a double massive lineup in an enormous stretch to try to shut it out. That experiment didn’t final lengthy although, as Mazzulla went again to Hauser and Gonzalez alongside White, Pritchard, and Queta.
19 year-old Spanish rook, stole the ball on the entry cross to Ingram, Hugo then dribbled previous three Toronto flat footed defenders to sky for the loud two-handed jam. ¡Vamos! HUGO. Pritchard’s step again jumper known as recreation on the competition as Boston had a 12-point lead with 2 minutes left within the recreation. The C’s would maintain on to win bigtime on the highway, lacking the crew’s finest participant in Jaylen Brown.
Boston subsequent faces the Indiana Pacers at dwelling on Monday night time at 7:30pm of their remaining recreation earlier than Christmas.
